Improvement in music-leaf turners



Patented Sept. 8,1874.

wnNEssEs INVENTUR n ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE IV. ROGERS, OF SOUTH BROOKLYN, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO IDARAUTENBERG, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MUSIC-LEAF TURNERS.

Specification formingpart of Letters Patent No. 154,9ll, dated September8, 1874; application filed July 11, 1874.

To all whom it may concern l Bc it known that I, GEORGE W. ROGERS, ofSouth Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented a new and Improved .Music-Leaf Turner, of which the followingis a specication:

My invention consists of a slide for moving the swinging wires forturning over the leaves, the said slide being arranged to run in a racea little below, and partly in front of, the lower arms ot' theleaf-turning wires, and having a little tongue rising a little higherthan the arms, that springs behind each arm when it passes the outerend, and swings the arm around as it moves back, and passes the axis ofthe arln, said slide being worked in one direction by a foot-treadle andcord, and in the other direction by a spring, and the leaf-turning wiresbeing pivoted side by side in a row parallel with the slide-race, sothat whichever way they may be turned the front wire will swing a littleshort of the next at the outer end, whereby when the `tongue passes ott'the front wire to spring behind to swing the wire forward, it willstrike against the next wire, and thus be prevented from engaging it. Anotched bar or standard is arranged alongside of the foot-treadle, toengage and hold it against the spring at any point.

Figure l is a front elevation of my improved music-turner, with a partsectioned. Fig. 2 is a section on line at' a', and Fig. 3 is a sectionon line y y. Y

Similar lettersof reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents the book-rack for holding the music, which may be of anyapproved kind, and adapted to any instrument. B represents the pivots,and G the arms of the wires for turning the leaves of the music. Thesepivots are arranged side by side, in a row, a little distance apart, sothat each front wire will not extend quite as far as the next behind, asshown at the right hand of Fig. l, in order that the tongue D, forthrowing the wires, may engage only one at a time, always taking the oneat the front. This tongue is mounted on a sliding block, E, which runsin a race, F, extending along the bottom of the rack from side to side,to carry the tongue along and beyond the ends of the arms to returnbehind them, and thus swing them around from one side to the other. Theslide is connected by a cord, G, with a foot-treadle, for pulling it inthe direction for turning thel leaves, and it is also connected with astrong spring, H, (dot-ted,) of rubber or other material, for moving itback, and it has a spring, I, at its front, which yields for letting itcome forward when passing over the arms O, and instantly throws it backafter passing oif the end of an arm to run behind it. The treadle Jranges along the notched standard I', the notches of which are arrangedto hold the slide at any required point until it is required to shift.For example, inFig. l,the second arm is represented as the next one tobe turned, and the tongue l) is held just beyond the end ot it, and tothe left of the end of the next arm, so that its next movement to theleft will only swing the second arm, whereas if it were allowed to swingbeyond more than one arm, it would cause more to swing. The treadle ismoved into and out ofthe notches by the foot giving it a little swinglaterally, and may thus be engaged with any notch, the position of thetongue along the slide being an indicator to the eye of the performerwhen the treadlc is in position for entering the notch it is desired to.

When all of the arms have been turned to either side, they may be turnedback one by one or all together. For turning them all back at once, thetongue is allowed to slide beyond all the arms before being reversed.

Instead of notching the standard I', so as to hold the tongue in aspecial posit-ion for each arm, it may be held always in advance of theend otthe arm to be turned by one intermediate notch, and then movedover the arm just before or at the time of turning, and held t by thefoot until returned to the notch 5 but in order to turn the leaf withthe least possible delay at the moment necessary, it is better to havethe tongue ready for instantaneous action, as shown in the drawing. Thethumbstud K is attached to the block for pulling the tongue forward, tomove it backward over the ends of the arms, which may sometimes berequired.

sliiftin g block E, sprin g H, foot-treadle J, and cord G, combined andarranged to Work the tongue D, substantially as specified.

3. The notched standard I', combined with the foot-treadle J, cord G,slide E, tongue D, and Wires B C, substantially as specified.

GEORGE W. ROGERS.

Vitnesses A. P. THAYER, T. B. MosHER.

